These are some of the best weeks of any crop year -- the timeframe for striding through tall corn rows, dodging sharp flapping leaves to find the ears nestled in their husks. This is the timeframe for plucking and counting bright green soybean pods, fuzzy as kittens' noses. This is Christmas morning, ripping off the packaging and peering excitedly into the box to see what you received, before you have to go find some batteries or sit down with an instruction booklet to assemble and operate the gift.

This is also the time for an annual reminder that profitability is ...